Polypeptides having a toxic activity against insects of the dipterae family

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a sequence of nucleotides characterized in that it corresponds to the fragment HindIII of about 4.3 kb which can be obtained from the plasmid pJEG80.1 which has been deposited at the CNCM on Aug. 23, 1994 with the number I-1469 or capable of hybridizing in stringent conditions with said plasmid. It also relates to polypeptides resulting from the expression of said sequence and their utilization in toxic compositions against insects.

The biological control of insects of the Diptera family, which comprises for example the mosquitoes and the simuliids, vectors of tropical diseases, is principally conducted with the aid of the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis ser. israelensis (Bti) of the H14 serotype or with the aid of Bacillus sphaericus. During sporulation these two bacteria synthesize proteins assembled in the form of crystals, which are toxic for the insect larvae on ingestion. The crystals of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis are composed of 4 major polypeptides CryIVA (125 kDa), CryIV B (135 kDa), CryIV D (68 kDa) and Cyt A (28 kDa) (Hofte H et al., 1989 Microbiol. Rev. 53:242-255). The crystals of B. sphaericus are constituted of 2 polypeptides of 51 and 42 kDa. These proteins have different specificities and each of them contributes to the total toxicity, acting if necessary in synergy. With the objective of neutralizing the possible appearance of insects resistant to the Bti toxins, the search for novel strains exhibiting an activity against mosquitoes was undertaken.

The B. thuringiensis strains active against mosquitoes may be classed in four groups depending on their larvicidal activity, the protein composition of their crystals and the presence of genes related to those of the B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis strain:

(1) group 1 contains the six strains of B. thuringiensis designated respectively as morrisoni PG14 (H8a8b), canadensis 11S2-1 (H5a5c), thompsoni B175 (H12), malaysiensis IMR81.1 (H36), K6 (autoagglutinating), and B51 (autoagglutinating) which have a similar larvicidal activity and polypeptides of the crystal similar to those of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis,

(2) group 2 includes the two B. thuringiensis strains medellin 163-131 (H30) and jegathesan 367 (H28a28c) which are almost as toxic as the B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis strain but which produce different polypeptides,

(3) group 3 comprises the strain darmstadiensis 73E10-2 (H10a10b) which synthesizes polypeptides different from those found in the crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis ser. israelensis but which is active on only one species of mosquito, and

(4) group 4 which includes the two strains fukuokaensis (H3a3d3e) and Kyushuensis 74 F6-18 (H11a11c) which are only weakly toxic.

Given the low toxicity of the strains of groups 3 and 4, these strains have not been studied in detail.

Of all the strains isolated the Bacillus thuringiensis ser jegathesan 367 (Btjeg) strain, of the H28a 28c serotype, seems interesting both from the point of view of its activity and from the polypeptide composition of its crystals. Like Bti this bacterium produces crystals during sporulation which are toxic to mosquito larvae when ingested. This strain was isolated in Malaysia by L. LEE and identified as belonging to a new subtype.

The crystals of B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan contain 7 major polypeptides having a molecular weight of 80, 72-70, 65, 37, 26 and 16 kDa, respectively. The 37 kDa protein is immunologically related to a constituent of the crystal of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis whereas the other proteins only give weak or variable cross-reactions. No gene related to those of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis was detected in this strain, indicating that the proteins of the crystal might be encoded in a new class of toxin genes.

The inventors have identified within the total DNA of a Btjeg 367 strain, sequences coding for polypeptides capable of inducing and/or contributing to the toxic activity of the strain against insects of the Diptera family in particular.

Hence the object of the invention is nucleotide sequences coding for polypeptides with toxic activity against insects. Target insects are for example insects of the Diptera family, in particular mosquitoes or simuliids and especially the larvae of these insects. However, it is not excluded that the polypeptides obtained from the sequences of the invention may exhibit an activity against insects of other families.

The application also concerns polypeptides having a larvicidal activity against insects, or polypeptides capable of contributing to such a toxic activity, if necessary by acting in synergy with polypeptides determining this activity.

Thus the polypeptides of the invention are capable either of inducing the toxic activity or of enhancing the level of toxicity against a given target.

Also included in the context of the invention are larvicidal compositions containing as active ingredient the polypeptides of the invention or recombinant organisms capable of expressing such polypeptides, if necessary combined with other constituents, for example, other polypeptides or recombinant cells capable of increasing the desired toxic activity, if necessary derived from other organisms, for example Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus sphaericus, Clostridium bifermentans.

A first group of sequences contains a first nucleotide sequence characterized in that it corresponds to the HindIII fragment of about 4.3 kb which can be obtained from the plasmid pJEG80.1 deposited with the CNCM (Collection Nationale De Cultures De Microoraganismes, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France) under the number 1-1469 on Aug. 23, 1994 or which can hybridize with this plasmid under stringent conditions.

The restriction map of the Btjeg sequence contained in the recombinant plasmid pJEG80.1. is shown in FIG. 3 and shows the position of the start of the jeg80 gene as well as the sense in which it is transcribed.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, a nucleotide sequence of this first group is included in the HindIII fragment of about 4.3 kb shown in FIG. 3, which can be isolated from the plasmid pJEG80.1 deposited with the CNCM. An interesting fragment is for example the HindIII-NdeI fragment of about 2.2 kb. This fragment contains the origin of the jeg80 gene.

According to another particular embodiment of the invention, the nucleotide sequence corresponding to the preceding definition is additionally characterized in that it includes the nucleotide sequence shown in FIG. 4 (SEQ ID NO:1,2).

The invention also relates to the jeg80 gene shown in FIG. 5A, the coding sequence of which is included between the nucleotides 64 and 2238 (SEQ ID NO:3).

The invention also relates to the non-coding sequence upstream from the coding sequence of the jeg80 gene, which contains the sequences regulating the expression of the gene. In particular, the invention relates to the fragment included between the nucleotides 1 and 124 of the sequence shown in FIG. 4 (SEQ ID NO:1).

The invention also relates to nucleotide sequences modified with respect to the sequences previously defined, for example by deletion, addition or substitution of nucleotides, characterized in that they hybridize under stringent conditions with one of the sequences previously defined, and in that they code in addition for a polypeptide having a toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family or which contribute to this activity.

By polypeptides according to the present description is meant peptides, polypeptides or proteins or any amino acid sequence having the required properties.

The observed toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family must in no case be considered as limiting for the definition of the sequences of the invention. On the contrary, this reference to the Diptera only constitutes a criterion for assessing the value of a given sequence, although in fact, as regards the toxic activity, the target insects may belong to other families.

The toxic activity assessed with respect to insects of the Diptera family may for example be tested in mosquitoes or simuliids or in the larvae of these insects.

The toxic activity of the expression product of a nucleotide sequence of the invention may be assessed by measuring the lethal dose necessary to kill 50% of a sample of insect larvae tested (LC₅₀), when the test is performed in 150 ml of water with 25 larvae per beaker, these larvae being in the L4 stage in the case of Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens and stage L3 in the case of Anopheles stephensi. Variable quantities of toxins are added to the beakers. The Culex and Anopheles larvae are fed on beer yeast at a concentration of 50 mg/l. The test is read at 24 h and 48 h.

A nucleotide sequence coding for a polypeptide having a toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family according to the invention is for example a sequence coding for a polypeptide having a molecular weight of about 80 kDa.

The object of the invention is also any fragment derived from a nucleotide sequence corresponding to one of the preceding criteria and hybridizing under stringent conditions with one of these sequences, this fragment having at least 9 nucleotides. Such fragments are designed in particular to be used as hybridization probes or as oligonucleotide primers for performing chain amplification reactions such as the PCR. As an example, an interesting nucleotide sequence is the j80 sequence corresponding to the following chain (SEQ ID NO:8):

AATAATATGATIAATTTTCCIATGTA (26-mer)

The object of the present application is also a second group of nucleotide sequences, a representative of which for example is a nucleotide sequence characterized in that it codes for a polypeptide which, in combination with a polypeptide encoded in a nucleotide sequence of the first group presented above is capable of contributing to the toxic activity of this latter against insects of the Diptera family, this sequence hybridizing in addition with the oligonucleotide j66 which has the following sequence (SEQ ID NO:9):

ATGCATTATTATGGIAATIGIAATGA

The definition of this nucleotide sequence with respect to its capacity to contribute to the toxic activity of the polypeptide encoded in one of the sequences of the first group does not excluded the possibility that this nucleotide sequence codes for a peptide having its own intrinsic toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family.

The value of this second group of nucleotide sequences may for example result from the fact that its association with polypeptides encoded in the first group of sequences previously defined may lead to a synergy such that the toxic activity of the combination of polypeptides is higher than the sum of the individual activities of each of the polypeptides of the combination. A particular nucleotide sequence of this second group codes for a polypeptide of about 66 kDa.

A third group of nucleotide sequences is characterized in that they code for polypeptides which, in combination with a polypeptide encoded in a nucleotide sequence of the first group or second group, are capable of contributing to the toxic activity of these polypeptides against insects of the Diptera family, these nucleotide sequences being in addition characterized in that they hybridize with the oligonucleotide j37 which has the following sequence (SEQ ID NO:10):

AATATIGAAATIGCIACAAGAGATTA

A preferred nucleotide sequence of this third group is characterized in that it codes for a polypeptide of about 37 kDA.

The object of the invention is a fourth group of nucleotide sequences coding for a polypeptide which, in combination with at least one of the preceding, is also capable of contributing to the toxic activity observed against insects of the Diptera family, the sequences of this fourth group coding for a polypeptide having a molecular weight of about 70 kDa or producing an immunological reaction with this peptide.

The hybridization conditions with the oligonucleotides are the stringent hybridization conditions described in the kit "ECL 3 oligo-labelling detection kit" from Amersham, the hybridization temperature being 42° C. and the second washing after hybridization being made in 1 x SSC - 0.1% SDS.

The object of the invention also includes the sequences flanking that of the jeg80 gene, corresponding to the ISjeg between the nucleotides 2812 and 3618 of the sequence of FIG. 6 (SEQ ID NO:5) and the intergenic region between the nucleotides 1604 and 284 of FIG. 6.

The object of the invention also includes a cloning or expression vector, characterized in that it comprises a nucleotide sequence corresponding to the previously given definitions.

A particularly preferred vector is the plasmid pJEG80.1 deposited with the CNCM on Aug. 23, 1994 under No. I-1469.

The object of the present application is also polypeptides characterized in that they constitute the expression product in a recombinant cell of at least one of the nucleotide sequences of the first, second, third or fourth groups such as defined in the previous pages.

In particular, the invention relates to the polypeptide Jeg80 encoded in the jeg80 gene shown in FIG. 5A.

Preferred polypeptides are for example the polypeptide of about 80 kDa represented by the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 4, or the polypeptide of about 80 kDa corresponding to the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 5B (SEQ ID NO:4), or any fragment of this polypeptide reacting with antibodies directed against the 80 kDa protein corresponding to the sequence shown in FIG. 5B and/or exhibiting a toxic activity against insect larvae of the Diptera family.

The polypeptides of the invention may be used alone or in combination. The combinations (or mixtures) may consist of different polypeptides of the groups I, II, III or IV such as were described above and/or a mixture of one or more of these polypeptides with other polypeptides derived from different organisms and in particular strains of Bti, B. sphaericus or C. bifermentans also having a toxic activity against insects.

Also included in the context of the present application are recombinant cells modified by a nucleotide sequence such as defined in the preceding pages or by a vector containing one of these sequences.

These recombinant host cells are prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells and they may be for example bacterial cells, for example strains of Bacillus thuringiensis strain Bti or Bacillus sphaericus, even Clostridium bifermantans.

As regards B. thuringiensis, reference should be made to the publication of Lereclus D. et al. (1989), FEMS Microbiology Letters 60, 211-218, in which the procedure for the transformation of B. thuringiensis (by the introduction of the toxin genes into Bt) is described.

As regards B. sphaericus, reference should be made for example to the publication of Taylor L. D. et al. (1990) FEMS Microbiology Letters 66, 125-128.

Another cell according to the invention may be a eukaryotic cell, for example a plant cell.

The recombinant cells may be used to produce the polypeptides of the invention, but may also be used in toxic compositions against insects.

The object of the application also includes polyclonal antibodies directed against one of the polypeptides defined above, or even a polyclonal serum directed against a mixture of several of them.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the examples and the figures which follow.

FIG. 1A Polypeptide composition of the crystals of the strain Btjeg. The crystals of the natural strains Bti and Btjeg, and the recombinant strain 407 (pJEG80.1) were purified and loaded on to a SDS-10% polyacrylamide gel. After electrophoresis, the gel was stained with Coomassie blue. The molecular mass (in kDa) of protein standards is shown on the right. The molecular masses of the Btjeg proteins are indicated on the left. Lane: 1, Bti; 2, Btjeg; 3, 407 (pJEG80.1).

FIG. 1B Analysis of the proteins contained in the inclusions produced by the strain 407 (pJEG80.1). A: Purified inclusions corresponding to 10 μg of proteins subjected to electrophoresis and stained with Coomassie Blue. B: Purified inclusions corresponding to 1 μg of proteins subjected to electrophoresis and transferred to a nitrocellulose filter. The filter was incubated with the antiserum (diluted 5,000 fold) against the total crystals of Bt ser. jegathesan (a), ser. medellin (b), ser. darmstadiensis (c), ser. israelensis (d) or against the solubilized purified inclusions composed of CryIVA (e), CryIVB (f), CryIVD (g) or CytA (h). The immunoreactive polypeptides were revealed with a second antibody conjugated to peroxidase (diluted 20,000 fold). The arrows between A and B give the position of Jeg80. The numbers on the left give the molecular weights (kDa) of the protein standards; line 1: the purified inclusions of the Btjeg 407 strain; line 2: the purified inclusions of the strain 407 (pJEG80.1).

FIG. 2 Probes used to determine the presence of the Bti toxin genes in Btjeg.

FIG. 3 Restriction map of the pJEG80.1 plasmid Vector pHT315 Fragment hybridizing with the oligonucleotide j80 Start of the jeg80 gene and sense of transcription DNA fragment of Btjeg cloned into the HindIII site of the plasmid pHT315 Polylinker restriction site No restriction site was found for the following enzymes: BamHI, BgIII, ClaI, EcoRV, KpnI, NcoI, SacI, SacII, SmaI, SphI, XbaI and XhoI H=HindIII; E=EcoRI; K=KpnI; Hp=Hpal; B=BamHI; N=NsiI; Nd=NdeI; P=PstI; Pv=PvuII; Sm=SmaI; Sp=SphI; Ss=SstI; SI=SaII; Sy=StyI; X=XbaI.

FIG. 4 Nucleotide sequence of a part of the jeg80 gene and amino acid sequence corresponding to the coding sequence (SEQ ID NO:1,2): the sequence in the box represents the amino acid sequence determined by microsequencing.

FIG. 5A: jeg80 gene. The potential ribosomal binding site is underlined. The start and stop codons of translation are indicated. The inverted repeat sequences are marked by arrows. B: Amino acid sequence of the JEG80 protein (SEQ ID NO:4).

FIG. 6 Nucleotide sequence of the jeg80 gene (coding sequence included between the nucleotides 64 and 2238), of ISjeg (nucleotides 2812 to 3618) and of the intergenic region (nucleotides 1604 to 284). The initiation and stop codons of translation are underlined. The potential transcription terminator of the jeg80 gene is indicated by arrows. The inverted repeat sequences defining the ISjeg are boxed in.

FIG. 7 Comparison of the Jeg80 and CryIVD sequences (SEQ ID NO:6,7). The corresponding identical amino acids are boxed in. Functionally equivalent residues are indicated by dots (the conservative replacements are I, L, V and M; D and E; Q and N; K and R; T and S; G and A; and F and Y). The regions similar to the blocks 1 and 4 present in all of the proteins CryI, CryIII and some CryIV are indicated. The vertical arrows represent the cleavage sites for the proteases in the solubilized toxin CryIVD (ref. 11). The numbers indicate the last residue of each line for each protein.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Bacterial Strains and Plasmids

E. coli TG1 {K12, Δ (lac-proAB) supE thi hdsD F' (traD36 proA.sup.± proB.sup.± lacZΔ lacl^(g) lacZ ΔM15)} and pHT315 (Arantes, O. et al. (1991) Gene 108:115-119) were used as cloning hosts and vectors, respectively. B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan 367 was used to purify the wildtype crystals and the DNA for the cloning experiments. B. thuringiensis ser. thuringiensis SPL407 (Lereclus, D. et al. (1989) FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 60:211-218) was used as receptor strain for the transformation experiments. The strain B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis 4Q2-81 (pHT640) was used as source of CryIVD inclusions (Poncet, S. et al. (1993) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:3928-3930).

B. thuringiensis SPL407 was transformed by electroporation according to the procedure described in the previously mentioned publication (Lereclus, D. et al.) and E. coli was transformed according to the description previously given in the publication by Lederberg, E. M. et al. (1974) J. Bacteriol. 119:1072-1074. The antibiotic concentrations for the bacterial selection were 25 μg/ml of erythromycin and 100 μg/ml of ampicillin.

Handling of the DNA

The restriction enzymes, the DNA T4 ligase and the calf intestine alkaline phosphatase were used as described by Sambrook et al. (Sambrook, J. et al. (1989) a Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) and according to the instructions of the manufacturers.

The total DNA was isolated from B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan according to the description of Delecluse, A. et al. (1991) J. Bacteriol. 173:3374-3381. The DNA of the plasmid was extracted from E. coli by a standard alkaline lysis procedure such as that described by Birnboim H. C. et al. (1979) Nucleic Acids Res. 7:1513-1523 and purified further using the Qiagen kit (Qiagen GmbH, Germany). DNA fragments were purified on agarose gel with the DNA purification kit Prep A Gene (BioRad, Hercules, Calif.).

The hybridization experiments were performed on Hybond N⁺ filters (Amersham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom). The oligonucleotides were labelled with fluorescein by using the oligonucleotide labelling system ECL 3' Oligolabelling (Amersham).

Starting from plasmids denatured in alkaline medium, the DNA sequences were determined by using the dideoxy chain termination method (Sanger, F. et al. (1977) Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA 74:5463-5467) with the Sequenase kit version 2.0 (U.S. Biochemical Corp., Cleveland, Ohio) and α-³⁵ S-dATP (>37 TBq/mmol; Amersham). A set of synthetic oligonucleotides (Eurogentec, Belgium) was used to determine the sequence of the two strands.

The software programs of the Genetics Computer Group were used for the sequence analysis (University of Wisconsin, Madison).

SCIENTIFIC RESULTS

1--Polypeptide composition and activity of the Btjeg crystals.

The strain Btjeg 367 was grown in the usual glucose-containing medium at 30° C. with shaking for about 72 hours until the sporulating bacteria lysed. The crystal-spore mixtures were harvested by centrifugation and the crystals were purified on a sucrose gradient according to the procedure described by THOMAS and ELLAR (THOMAS and ELLAR, 1983, J. Cell. Sci. , 60, 181-197). The analysis of the polypeptide composition of these crystals was performed by electrophoresis on SDS-polyacrylamide gel followed by staining with Coomassie blue. The results obtained and presented in FIG. 1 show that the crystals of the Btjeg strain are constituted of several polypeptides of 80, 72, 70, 66, 50, 37 and 28 kDa (some of which might be degradation products).

Immunodetection experiments performed with the aid of a serum directed against the Bti proteins made it possible to demonstrate that the 37 kDa protein is immunologically related to the Bti toxins; a protein of about 100 kDa, undetected on gel after staining with Coomassie blue, also reacts with this serum.

On larvae of Aedes aegyti, Anopheles stephensi and Culex pipiens, the crystals of this strain exhibit a lower toxicity than that obtained with the Bti crystals but one which is nonetheless considerable, as shown in the following table.

    ______________________________________                                                  LC50 in ng/ml at 24h (confidence interval) on:                                 Aedes       Anopheles   Culex                                         Crystals aegypti     stephensi   pipiens                                       ______________________________________                                         Bti 1884  20 (16-24)  39 (29-49) 20 (14-26)                                    Btjeg 367                                                                               240 (174-306)                                                                              165 (119-211)                                                                              77 (65-89)                                    ______________________________________                                    

2--Presence in Btjeg of the Genes Coding for Toxins Having Properties Similar to Those of Bti

The total DNA of the strain Btjeg 367 was isolated according to the procedure previously described (DELECLUSE et al., 1991, J. Bacteriol., 173, 3374-3381), then hydrolyzed by the enzyme EcoRI. The fragments obtained were separated by electrophoresis on a 0.6% agarose gel, then transferred to a nylon membrane (Hybond N⁺, Amersham).

Moreover, the cryIVA, cryIVD and cytA genes of Bti were obtained after hydrolysis of the recombinant plasmids pHT606, pHT611 and pCB4 as indicated in FIG. 2. The DNA fragments containing the Bti genes were purified after separation on an agarose gel then labelled with peroxidase using the "ELC direct nucleic acid" labelling kit (Amersham), and used in hybridization experiments with the hydrolyzed total DNA of the Btjeg strain.

No hybridization was obtained between the DNA of the Btjeg strain and the Bti genes, at least under the hybridization conditions used (80% homology).

3--Cloning of the Genes Coding for the Toxins of the Btjeg Strain

a) Determination of the amino acid sequences of the Btjeg proteins.

The amino-terminal sequences of the proteins of 80, 66 and 37 kDa were determined in the microsequencing laboratory of the Pasteur Institute using an automatic sequencer (Applied Biosystems) after transfer of the protein to the Problot membranes (Applied Biosystems); the sequence thus obtained is given in the table below.

Oligonucleotides corresponding to the proteins JEG80, JEG66 and JEG37 (sequences underlined) were synthesized by using the genetic code defined for several genes of B. thuringiensis and by incorporating inosine at each ambiguity. The sequence of these oligonucleotides is represented in the table.

    __________________________________________________________________________                        Oligonucleotide                                             Amino-terminal sequences                                                                          sequences                                                   __________________________________________________________________________     JEG80:MQNNNFNTTEINNMINFPMY                                                                        j80:AATAATATGATIAATTTT                                                         CCIATGTA (26-mer)                                           JEG:70:M/XFASYG/XR/DNEY/L                                                      JEG:66:MHYYGNRNEYDILNA                                                                            j66:ATGCATTATTATGGIAATI                                     JEG37:TITNIEIATRDYTNXDXTGE                                                                        GIAATGA (26-mer)                                                               j37:AATATIGAAATIGCIACII                                                        GIGATTA (26-mer)                                            __________________________________________________________________________

JEG80, SEQ ID NO:11; JEG70, SEQ ID NO:12; JEG66, SEQ ID NO:13; JEG37, SEQ ID NO:14; j80, SEQ ID NO:8; j66, SEQ ID NO:9; j37, SEQ ID NO:10.

In these sequences, "I" represents deoxyinosine, used as neutral base for all positions capable of corresponding to three or four nucleotides.

b) Hybridization of the oligonucleotides to the total DNA of the Btjeg strain.

Hybridization experiments were performed between the oligonucleotides labelled with fluorescein and the total DNA of the Btjeg strain, hydrolyzed by EcoRI, HindIII, XbaI or PstI. The cold probes procedure (3' oligonucleotide labelling system, Amersham) was used. The results obtained are indicated in the table below.

    ______________________________________                                                 Hybridiz                                                               Oligo-  ation                                                                  nucleo- tempera-   Size of the fragments                                       tides   ture       EcoRI   HindIII XbaI PstI                                   ______________________________________                                         j80     42° C.                                                                             2 kb     4 kb   12 kb                                                                               12 kb                                  j66     47° C.                                                                             7 kb    14 kb   10 kb                                                                               14 kb                                  ______________________________________                                    

The probe hybridized specifically at 42° C. to a unique HindIII restriction fragment of about 4 kb and to a unique EcoRI restriction fragment of about 2 kb.

c) Cloning of the gene coding for the protein JEG80.

A DNA library of the Btjeg strain was constructed in E. coli TGI by using the bifunctional plasmid pHT315 (ARANTES and LERECLUS, 1991, Gene, 108, 115-119) as cloning vector. The total DNA of the Btjeg strain was hydrolyzed by HindIII, then subjected to electrophoresis on agarose gel. Fragments of about 2 to 6 kb were purified and cloned in this vector. The HindIII fragments of 3 to 5 kb were inserted in the HindIII site of the shuttle vector pHT315 treated with alkaline phosphatase. The recombinant clones produced after transformation of the strain of E. coli TGI with the ligation mixtures obtained were tested for their capacity to hybridize with the labelled oligonucleotide j80. Out of the 1,000 recombinant clones obtained, 5 exhibited a positive reaction. A recombinant clone, JEG80.1 was selected and analyzed. This clone contains a 10.9 kb recombinant plasmid (pJEG80.1); the size of the inserted HindIII DNA fragment is 4.3 kb.

4--Analysis of the Recombinant Clone JEG80.1

a) Determination of the restriction map of the plasmid pJEG80.1.

The restriction map of the plasmid pJEG80.1 was determined and is shown in FIG. 3. Hybridization experiments performed with the oligonucleotide j80 made it possible to localize the position of this oligonucleotide on the 4.3 kb HindIII fragment. Moreover, PCR experiments performed with the combinations of oligo-nucleotides j80+universal and j80+reverse made it possible to localize more precisely the start of the gene coding for the protein JEG80 (jeg80) as well as the sense in which it is transcribed (FIG. 3).

b) Determination of the sequence of the jeg80 gene

The nucleotide sequence of the jeg80 gene is determined by the SANGER technique on the plasmid pJEG80.1 previously denatured with sodium hydroxide. The primers used are the oligonucleotide j80, the reverse oligonucleotide or oligonucleotides deduced from the sequences read. A partial sequence (938 bp starting from the 5' end of the gene), is shown in FIG. 4 with the corresponding amino acid sequence.

The pJEG80.1 sequence in the region containing the gene for the 80 kDa protein (designated jeg80) was determined on the two strands (FIG. 5). An open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 724 residues with a calculated molecular mass of 81, 293 Da has been found. The sequence was examined to determine any region which might be similar to promoter structures of B. thuringiensis. No promoter sequence was found in the sequence of about 50 nucleotides upstream from the start codon. Downstream from the stop codon (position 2249 to 2282, FIG. 5) inverted repeat sequences were identified, sequences capable of forming a loop structure with a ΔG=-76.9 kJ/mol calculated according to rules defined by Tinoco et al. (Tinoco, I. J. et al. (1973) Nature (London) New Biol. 246:40-41.

This structure may act as transcription terminator. Twelve nucleotides upstream from the initiation codon a sequence AAAGAAGAGGG (SEQ ID NO:15) was identified as constituting a ribosome binding site (FIG. 5).

An amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence obtained was compared with other protein sequences present in the data bank Swiss Prot. This analysis made it possible to demonstrate that the Jeg80 protein exhibits a similarity of the order of 67% with the N-terminal part of the CryIVD protein of Bti; the similarity is about 58% (FIG. 6) with respect to the entire amino acid sequence and somewhat less (36%) with the CryII proteins of Bt kurstaki.

Five blocks are conserved among the toxins CryI, CryIII and most of the CryIV toxins (Hofte, H. et al. (1989) Microbiol. Rev. 53:242-255. However, only block 1 was found in Jeg80 (FIG. 6) with arginine substitutions present in block 4 which was otherwise similar (FIG. 6). Jeg80 possesses a chain of 82 amino acids comprising five cysteine residues at its COOH-terminus, which is absent from CryIVD. The region sensitive to the activity of the CryIVD protease (Dai, S-M et al. (1993) Insect. Biochem. Molec. Biol. 23:273-283) localized in the middle of the protein (amino acids 348-357, FIG. 6) is not conserved in Jeg80.

c) Expression of the jeg80 gene in the strain Bt 407 cry--(also designated as SPL 407).

The plasmid pJEG80.1 was introduced into the strain Bt 407 cry--by electroporation according to the procedure described by LERECLUS et al.(LERECLUS et al. 1989, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 60, 211-218). A transformant, 407 (pJEG80.1), was selected for additional analysis. During sporulation this clone produces inclusions visible in the optical microscope. No inclusion of this type was present in cells containing the vector pHT315 alone. The expression of jeg80 was analyzed by SDS-PAGE, followed by staining with brilliant Coomassie blue (FIG. 1). The principal polypeptide of the inclusions, purified from the recombinant strain 407 (pJEG80.1), had a molecular weight of about 80 kDa (FIG. 1, line 3), the same as that of the largest polypeptide of the crystals of the wildtype strain 367 (FIG. 1, line 2). These inclusions were purified on a sucrose gradient: they are constituted uniquely of the protein Jeg80 (FIG. 1). Tests were made of immunological reactions between the polypeptide Jeg80 and the proteins of the crystal of B. thuringiensis ser jegathesan, B. thuringiensis ser israelensis, B. thuringiensis ser medellin and darmstadiensis. The results of the immunological reaction are reported in FIG. 1B. This protein reacts with antibodies directed against the whole crystals of Btjeg as well as with the anti-crystal serum of Bti, and with the anti-total crystal serum of the strain Bt medellin (another strain active against mosquitoes, of a new serotype, H30, recently identified).

d) Larvicidal activity of the protein JEG80.

The purified crystals of the strain 407 (pJEG80.1) were tested for their activity against mosquito larvae, in comparison with the crystals derived from the strain Btjeg containing all of the proteins. Assays were also done with the strain 4Q2-81 (pHT 640) which only produces the protein CryIVD. Preliminary results indicate that the protein Jeg80 is active against the three species of mosquitoes tested: A. aegypti, A. stephensi and C. pipiens. The toxicity of the protein Jeg80 is higher with C. pipiens (Table 1). Moreover, the level of toxicity obtained for the protein Jeg80 alone is comparable against A. stephensi to that observed with the crystals of Btjeg.

The protein Jeg80 is more toxic than the wildtype strain against A. aegypti and equally toxic against C. pipiens and A. stephensi. In addition and inspite of the similarities to CryIVD, the protein Jeg80 is more toxic than CryIVD: about 10 times more against A. aegypti and A. stephensi and 40 times more against C. pipiens.

The toxic activity was tested under the following conditions: the mosquitoes used were maintained under laboratory conditions at 26° C. in an atmosphere of 80% humidity and with a day-night cycle of 14-10 h. The larvae were subjected to a teatment with dechlorinated water and fed with commercial cat biscuits. The purified inclusions were diluted in plastic cups containing 150 ml of deionized water and assayed in duplicate against 25 stage four A. aegypti and C. pipiens larvae and 25 stage three A. stephensi larvae. Each assay was repeated at least five times. The mortality of the larvae was recorded after 48 hours and the lethal doses (LC₅₀) were determined by Probit analysis.

                                      TABLE 1                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Toxic activity against mosquitoes of the purified inclusions of different      strains of B. thuringiensis                                                                  Toxic activity against the species of mosquitoes                         Inclusion                                                                            (LC.sub.50 in mg/ml after 48 hours)                              Strain  composition                                                                          A. aegypti                                                                              A. stephensi                                                                             C. pipiens                                    __________________________________________________________________________     jegathesan 367                                                                         Wild-type                                                                            47.4 (41.5-54.2)                                                                        54.5 (45.1-99.9)                                                                          9.6 (8.6-10.7)                               407(pJEG80.1)                                                                          Jeg80 18.8 (15.0-23.2)                                                                        42.7 (36.0-50.6)                                                                         10.1 (7.7-13.1)                               4Q2-81(pHT640)                                                                         CryIVD                                                                               121.5 (96.0-154.0)                                                                       326.0 (265.7-393.3)                                                                      372.4 (301.5-464.1)                          __________________________________________________________________________      *The values correspond to an average of 5 experiments (see, Materials and      Methods). The numbers in parenthesis are the confidence intervals,             according to the Probit analysys                                         

The cloning and characterization of a new gene from B. thuringiensis, the jeg80 gene of the strain jegathesan 367 has previously been described. The jeg80 gene codes for a protein of 81, 293 Da molecular weight.

The Jeg80 protein is similar to the larvicidal toxin CryIVD of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis against mosquitoes. It is even the only protein known exhibiting similarities to CryIVD, suggesting that these two proteins have evolved from a common ancestor. The Jeg80 protein also shares a slight similarity to the CryII proteins, comparable to the resemblance existing between CryIV and CryII. However, essential differences exist between Jeg80 and CryIVD, in particular at the carboxy-terminus of the protein. Jeg80 contains a sequence of 82 amino acids including 5 cysteine residues, a sequence which is absent from CryIVD. Bietlot et al. (Bietlot, H. P. et al. (1990) Biochem. J. 267:309-315) have described the importance of such residues for the stability of several δ-endotoxins produced by different strains of B. thuringiensis. This structure might be essential for the formation of the crystal and the insecticidal activity. Mutagenesis might be used to identify the role of this novel carboxy-terminus of Jeg80. There also exist important differences between the flanking regions of the cryIVD and jeg80 genes. The cryIVD gene is the second gene of an operon containing two other genes, p19 and p20 (Adams, L. F. et al. (1989) J. Bacteriol. 171:521-530 and Dervyn, E et al. (1995) J. Bacteriol. 177:2283-2291). Although the corresponding peptides, P19 and P20, are not essential for the expression of CryIVD, they might act as chaperone proteins to stabilize certain constituents of the crystal of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis (Chang, C. et al. (1993) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 59:815-821; Dervyn, E. et al. (1995) J. Bacteriol. 177:2283-2291 and Wu, D. et al. (1 994) Mol. Microbiol. 13:965-972). No environment of this type has been recognized for the jeg80 gene: no homology with p20 has been found downstream from jeg80. However, the DNA fragment cloned in the plasmid Jeg80.1 might be too small to contain the initiation site of another gene. Similarly, no gene related to p19 has been found in the 1 kb fragment upstream from Jeg80. On the other hand, at a distance of 550 bp upstream from the jeg80 gene an open reading frame oriented in the opposite direction has been identified. Comparisons of the amino acid sequence deduced with others with the aid of the data bank Swiss Prot has revealed similarities with the transposase of the insertion sequence IS240 of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis (Delecluse, A. (1989) Plasmid 21:71-78). Two copies of IS240 flank the cryIVA gene in the variety israelensis (Bourgouin, C. et al. (1988) J. Bacteriol. 170:3575-3583) but none was found in the neighbourhood of the cryIVD gene although a variant IS231 was found downstream from the p20 gene (Adams, L. F. et al. (1989) J. Bacteriol. 171:521-530). Insertion elements may be accountable for the dispersal of the toxin genes between the different strains of B. thuringiensis. The cryIVD gene is transcribed starting from two promoters, recognized by the RNA polymerase combined with factor σ35 or σ28 of B. thuringiensis (Dervyn, E. et al. (1995) J. Bacteriol. 177:2283-2291). The sequence analysis of the region upstream from the jeg80 gene has not revealed a consensus promoter for B. thuringiensis. It is possible that jeg80 is transcribed from a promoter recognized by σ factors different from σ35 and σ28 or that the promoter is localized very far upstream from the jeg80 gene, i.e. upstream from the sequence related to the sequence IS240. The protein Jeg80 cross-reacts with antibodies directed against CryIVD and CryIVA. Although the genes jeg80 and cryIVA do not exhibit great similarities, the proteins may nonetheless share similar domains. The Jeg80 protein also reacted with a serum against the total proteins of B. thuringiensis ser. medellin. Preliminary experiments had not revealed polypeptides analogous to the polypeptide CryIVD in this strain (Orduz, D. et al. (1994) Microbiol. Biotechnol. 40:794-799 and Ragni, A. et al. (submitted for publication).

The inclusions composed only of the Jeg80 protein were as toxic as the inclusions of the B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan wildtype strain against the larvae of the strains C. pipiens and A. stephensis and more toxic than the wildtype strain against the larvae of A. aegypti. This constitutes the first indication of the existence of a protein having a toxic activity against mosquito larvae capable in an isolated form of exhibiting an activity similar to that of a mixture of different polypeptides. In the case of B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis, isolated polypeptides and even combinations of two or three constituents of the crystal are less toxic than the crystals of the wildtype (Angsuthanasombat, C. et al. (1987) Mol. Gen.Genet. 208:384-389; Delecluse, A. et al. (1993) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 177:2283-2291; Poncet, S. et al. (J. Invertebr. Pathol.: in press) and Wu, D. et al; (1994) Mol. Microbiol. 13:965-972). The high activity of the israelensis strain is due to synergistic interactions between different polypeptides of the crystal. In the case of the strain jegathesan such interactions are not excluded although the Jeg80 protein appears to be a predominant contributor to the toxicity. However, Jeg80 is not the principal constituent of the crystals of jegathesan. Other polypeptides in the crystals, probably the 65 kDa or 37 kDa proteins or both are responsible for the additional activity.

Jeg80 is much more toxic (6 to 40 times more toxic depending on the species of mosquito tested) than CryIVD, inspite of their great similarity. This difference of activity might reflect different modes of action of the two toxins. This difference might be exploited inthe development of insecticides.

    __________________________________________________________________________     #             SEQUENCE LISTING                                                 - <160> NUMBER OF SEQ ID NOS: 15                                               - <210> SEQ ID NO 1                                                            <211> LENGTH: 1260                                                             <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               <220> FEATURE:                                                                 <221> NAME/KEY: CDS                                                            <222> LOCATION: (325)..(1260)                                                  - <400> SEQUENCE: 1                                                            - gatgtgagga ttattacgtg aatactgatt atgataattt tgaaaagaaa tc - #atatttgc          60                                                                           - aaccagaatc atcatatgat tacatgtcag aagaaaatca caaagttcca tt - #aattagat         120                                                                           - gtgaattcct atttttattt cagtccagaa tcctgaataa tggaaattaa at - #gcacccta         180                                                                           - tgatttataa atatatgtac ctttaaaaca agaataatta taactgtata aa - #aataggta         240                                                                           - tactattgga aaacaaaaaa gttaattatg aaaagatttc gtttatatta gt - #aaattgtt         300                                                                           - taaagaagag ggggcatgtt ttaa atg caa aat aac aac t - #tt aat acc aca            351                                                                           #Phe Asn Thr Thrn Asn Asn Asn                                                  #        5  1                                                                  - gaa att aat aat atg att aat ttc cct atg ta - #t aat ggt aga tta gaa           399                                                                           Glu Ile Asn Asn Met Ile Asn Phe Pro Met Ty - #r Asn Gly Arg Leu Glu            # 25                                                                           - cct tct cta gct cca gca tta ata gca gta gc - #t cca att gct aaa tat           447                                                                           Pro Ser Leu Ala Pro Ala Leu Ile Ala Val Al - #a Pro Ile Ala Lys Tyr            #                 40                                                           - tta gca aca gct ctt gct aaa tgg gct gta aa - #a caa ggg ttt gca aaa           495                                                                           Leu Ala Thr Ala Leu Ala Lys Trp Ala Val Ly - #s Gln Gly Phe Ala Lys            #             55                                                               - tta aaa tcc gag ata ttc ccc ggt aat acg cc - #t gct act atg gat aag           543                                                                           Leu Lys Ser Glu Ile Phe Pro Gly Asn Thr Pr - #o Ala Thr Met Asp Lys            #         70                                                                   - gtt cgt att gag gta caa aca ctt tta gac ca - #a aga tta caa gat gac           591                                                                           Val Arg Ile Glu Val Gln Thr Leu Leu Asp Gl - #n Arg Leu Gln Asp Asp            #     85                                                                       - aga gtt aag att tta gaa ggt gaa tac aaa gg - #a att att gac gtg agt           639                                                                           Arg Val Lys Ile Leu Glu Gly Glu Tyr Lys Gl - #y Ile Ile Asp Val Ser            #105                                                                           - aaa gtt ttt act gat tat gtt aat caa tct aa - #a ttt gag act gga aca           687                                                                           Lys Val Phe Thr Asp Tyr Val Asn Gln Ser Ly - #s Phe Glu Thr Gly Thr            #               120                                                            - gct aat agg ctt ttt ttt gat aca agt aac ca - #a tta ata agc aga ttg           735                                                                           Ala Asn Arg Leu Phe Phe Asp Thr Ser Asn Gl - #n Leu Ile Ser Arg Leu            #           135                                                                - cct caa ttt gag att gca gga tat gaa gga gt - #a tcc att tca ctt ttt           783                                                                           Pro Gln Phe Glu Ile Ala Gly Tyr Glu Gly Va - #l Ser Ile Ser Leu Phe            #       150                                                                    - act cag atg tgt aca ttt cat ttg ggt tta tt - #a aaa gat gga att tta           831                                                                           Thr Gln Met Cys Thr Phe His Leu Gly Leu Le - #u Lys Asp Gly Ile Leu            #   165                                                                        - gca gga agc gat tgg gga ttt gct cct gca ga - #t aaa gac gct ctt att           879                                                                           Ala Gly Ser Asp Trp Gly Phe Ala Pro Ala As - #p Lys Asp Ala Leu Ile            170                 1 - #75                 1 - #80                 1 -        #85                                                                            - tgc caa ttc aat aga ttt gtc aat gaa tat aa - #t act cga ctg atg gta           927                                                                           Cys Gln Phe Asn Arg Phe Val Asn Glu Tyr As - #n Thr Arg Leu Met Val            #               200                                                            - ttg tac tca aaa gaa ttt gga cgg tta tta gc - #a aaa aat ctt aat gaa           975                                                                           Leu Tyr Ser Lys Glu Phe Gly Arg Leu Leu Al - #a Lys Asn Leu Asn Glu            #           215                                                                - gcc ttg aac ttt aga aat atg tgt agt tta ta - #t gtc ttt cct ttt tct          1023                                                                           Ala Leu Asn Phe Arg Asn Met Cys Ser Leu Ty - #r Val Phe Pro Phe Ser            #       230                                                                    - gaa gca tgg tct tta tta agg tat gaa gga ac - #a aaa tta gaa aac acg          1071                                                                           Glu Ala Trp Ser Leu Leu Arg Tyr Glu Gly Th - #r Lys Leu Glu Asn Thr            #   245                                                                        - ctt tca tta tgg aat ttt gtg ggt gaa agt at - #c aat aat ata tct cct          1119                                                                           Leu Ser Leu Trp Asn Phe Val Gly Glu Ser Il - #e Asn Asn Ile Ser Pro            250                 2 - #55                 2 - #60                 2 -        #65                                                                            - aat gat tgg aaa ggt gcg ctt tat aaa ttg tt - #a atg gga gca cct aat          1167                                                                           Asn Asp Trp Lys Gly Ala Leu Tyr Lys Leu Le - #u Met Gly Ala Pro Asn            #               280                                                            - caa aga tta aac aat gtt aag ttt aat tat ag - #t tat ttt tct gat act          1215                                                                           Gln Arg Leu Asn Asn Val Lys Phe Asn Tyr Se - #r Tyr Phe Ser Asp Thr            #           295                                                                - caa gcg aca ata cat cgt gaa aac att cat gg - #t gtc ctg cca aca              1260                                                                           Gln Ala Thr Ile His Arg Glu Asn Ile His Gl - #y Val Leu Pro Thr                #       310                                                                    - <210> SEQ ID NO 2                                                            <211> LENGTH: 312                                                              <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               - <400> SEQUENCE: 2                                                            - Met Gln Asn Asn Asn Phe Asn Thr Thr Glu Il - #e Asn Asn Met Ile Asn          #                 15                                                           - Phe Pro Met Tyr Asn Gly Arg Leu Glu Pro Se - #r Leu Ala Pro Ala Leu          #             30                                                               - Ile Ala Val Ala Pro Ile Ala Lys Tyr Leu Al - #a Thr Ala Leu Ala Lys          #         45                                                                   - Trp Ala Val Lys Gln Gly Phe Ala Lys Leu Ly - #s Ser Glu Ile Phe Pro          #     60                                                                       - Gly Asn Thr Pro Ala Thr Met Asp Lys Val Ar - #g Ile Glu Val Gln Thr          # 80                                                                           - Leu Leu Asp Gln Arg Leu Gln Asp Asp Arg Va - #l Lys Ile Leu Glu Gly          #                 95                                                           - Glu Tyr Lys Gly Ile Ile Asp Val Ser Lys Va - #l Phe Thr Asp Tyr Val          #           110                                                                - Asn Gln Ser Lys Phe Glu Thr Gly Thr Ala As - #n Arg Leu Phe Phe Asp          #       125                                                                    - Thr Ser Asn Gln Leu Ile Ser Arg Leu Pro Gl - #n Phe Glu Ile Ala Gly          #   140                                                                        - Tyr Glu Gly Val Ser Ile Ser Leu Phe Thr Gl - #n Met Cys Thr Phe His          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Leu Gly Leu Leu Lys Asp Gly Ile Leu Ala Gl - #y Ser Asp Trp Gly Phe          #               175                                                            - Ala Pro Ala Asp Lys Asp Ala Leu Ile Cys Gl - #n Phe Asn Arg Phe Val          #           190                                                                - Asn Glu Tyr Asn Thr Arg Leu Met Val Leu Ty - #r Ser Lys Glu Phe Gly          #       205                                                                    - Arg Leu Leu Ala Lys Asn Leu Asn Glu Ala Le - #u Asn Phe Arg Asn Met          #   220                                                                        - Cys Ser Leu Tyr Val Phe Pro Phe Ser Glu Al - #a Trp Ser Leu Leu Arg          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Tyr Glu Gly Thr Lys Leu Glu Asn Thr Leu Se - #r Leu Trp Asn Phe Val          #               255                                                            - Gly Glu Ser Ile Asn Asn Ile Ser Pro Asn As - #p Trp Lys Gly Ala Leu          #           270                                                                - Tyr Lys Leu Leu Met Gly Ala Pro Asn Gln Ar - #g Leu Asn Asn Val Lys          #       285                                                                    - Phe Asn Tyr Ser Tyr Phe Ser Asp Thr Gln Al - #a Thr Ile His Arg Glu          #   300                                                                        - Asn Ile His Gly Val Leu Pro Thr                                              305                 3 - #10                                                    - <210> SEQ ID NO 3                                                            <211> LENGTH: 2434                                                             <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               - <400> SEQUENCE: 3                                                            - ttaattatga aaagatttcg tttatattag taaattgttt aaagaagagg gg - #gcatgttt          60                                                                           - taaatgcaaa ataacaactt taataccaca gaaattaata atatgattaa tt - #tccctatg         120                                                                           - tataatggta gattagaacc ttctctagct ccagcattaa tagcagtagc tc - #caattgct         180                                                                           - aaatatttag caacagctct tgctaaatgg gctgtaaaac aagggtttgc aa - #aattaaaa         240                                                                           - tccgagatat tccccggtaa tacgcctgct actatggata aggttcgtat tg - #aggtacaa         300                                                                           - acacttttag accaaagatt acaagatgac agagttaaga ttttagaagg tg - #aatacaaa         360                                                                           - ggaattattg acgtgagtaa agtttttact gattatgtta atcaatctaa at - #ttgagact         420                                                                           - ggaacagcta ataggctttt ttttgataca agtaaccaat taataagcag at - #tgcctcaa         480                                                                           - tttgagattg caggatatga aggagtatcc atttcacttt ttactcagat gt - #gtacattt         540                                                                           - catttgggtt tattaaaaga tggaatttta gcaggaagcg attggggatt tg - #ctcctgca         600                                                                           - gataaagacg ctcttatttg ccaattcaat agatttgtca atgaatataa ta - #ctcgactg         660                                                                           - atggtattgt actcaaaaga atttggacgg ttattagcaa aaaatcttaa tg - #aagccttg         720                                                                           - aactttagaa atatgtgtag tttatatgtc tttccttttt ctgaagcatg gt - #ctttatta         780                                                                           - aggtatgaag gaacaaaatt agaaaacacg ctttcattat ggaattttgt gg - #gtgaaagt         840                                                                           - atcaataata tatctcctaa tgattggaaa ggtgcgcttt ataaattgtt aa - #tgggagca         900                                                                           - cctaatcaaa gattaaacaa tgttaagttt aattatagtt atttttctga ta - #ctcaagcg         960                                                                           - acaatacatc gtgaaaacat tcatggtgtc ctgccaacat ataatggagg ac - #caacaatt        1020                                                                           - acaggatgga tagggaatgg gcgtttcagc ggacttagtt ttccttgtag ta - #atgaatta        1080                                                                           - gaaattacaa aaataaaaca ggaaataact tacaatgata aagggggaaa tt - #tcaattca        1140                                                                           - atagttcctg ctgctacgcg caatgaaatt ctaactgcta ccgttccaac at - #cagctgat        1200                                                                           - ccatttttta aaaccgctga tattaactgg aaatatttct ctccgggtct tt - #actctgga        1260                                                                           - tggaatatta aatttgatga tacagtcact ttaaaaagta gagtaccaag ta - #ttatacct        1320                                                                           - tcaaatatat taaagtatga tgattattat attcgtgccg tttcagcctg tc - #caaaaggc        1380                                                                           - gtatcacttg catataacca tgatttttta acgttaacat ataataaatt ag - #aatatgat        1440                                                                           - gcacctacta cacaaaatat cattgtagga ttttcaccag ataatactaa ga - #gtttttat        1500                                                                           - aggagcaact ctcattatct aagtacaaca gatgatgcct atgtaattcc tg - #ctttacaa        1560                                                                           - ttttctacag tctcagatag atcattctta gaagatacac cagatcaagc aa - #cagatggc        1620                                                                           - agtattaaat ttacggatac tgttcttggg aatgaggcaa aatattctat ta - #gactaaat        1680                                                                           - actggattta atacagctac taggtataga ttaattatac gttttaaagc gc - #ctgctcgt        1740                                                                           - ttggctgctg gtatacgtgt acgttctcaa aattcaggga ataataagtt at - #taggtggt        1800                                                                           - attcctgtag agggtaattc tggatggata gattatatta cagattcatt ta - #cttttgat        1860                                                                           - gaccttggga ttacaacttc aagtacaaat gctttcttta gtattgattc ag - #atggtgta        1920                                                                           - aatgcttctc aacaatggta tttgtctaaa ttaattttag taaaagaatc ca - #gttttacg        1980                                                                           - actcagattc cattaaaacc atacgttatt gtacgttgtc cggatacttt tt - #ttgtgagc        2040                                                                           - aacaattcaa gtagtacgta cgaacaaggc tataacaaca attacaacca ga - #attctagc        2100                                                                           - agtatgtacg atcaaggcta taacaatagc tataatccaa actctggttg ta - #cgtgtaat        2160                                                                           - caagactata acaatagcta taaccaaaac tctggctgta catgtaacca ag - #ggtataac        2220                                                                           - aataactatc ctaaataaga aaacaatgaa aaagcattcc cctctcacaa gg - #aatgcttt        2280                                                                           - tttgtctgcc ctattttacg catatataaa acccattggt aattgcatac ta - #tgcatact        2340                                                                           - ctataaaacc gttccatcct acccctgtta tgaagtgacc tttgtcaata gt - #ttttcaac        2400                                                                           #      2434        gatg gcatacaaaa gctt                                        - <210> SEQ ID NO 4                                                            <211> LENGTH: 724                                                              <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               - <400> SEQUENCE: 4                                                            - Met Gln Asn Asn Asn Phe Asn Thr Thr Glu Il - #e Asn Asn Met Ile Asn          #                 15                                                           - Phe Pro Met Tyr Asn Gly Arg Leu Glu Pro Se - #r Leu Ala Pro Ala Leu          #             30                                                               - Ile Ala Val Ala Pro Ile Ala Lys Tyr Leu Al - #a Thr Ala Leu Ala Lys          #         45                                                                   - Trp Ala Val Lys Gln Gly Phe Ala Lys Leu Ly - #s Ser Glu Ile Phe Pro          #     60                                                                       - Gly Asn Thr Pro Ala Thr Met Asp Lys Val Ar - #g Ile Glu Val Gln Thr          # 80                                                                           - Leu Leu Asp Gln Arg Leu Gln Asp Asp Arg Va - #l Lys Ile Leu Glu Gly          #                 95                                                           - Glu Tyr Lys Gly Ile Ile Asp Val Ser Lys Va - #l Phe Thr Asp Tyr Val          #           110                                                                - Asn Gln Ser Lys Phe Glu Thr Gly Thr Ala As - #n Arg Leu Phe Phe Asp          #       125                                                                    - Thr Ser Asn Gln Leu Ile Ser Arg Leu Pro Gl - #n Phe Glu Ile Ala Gly          #   140                                                                        - Tyr Glu Gly Val Ser Ile Ser Leu Phe Thr Gl - #n Met Cys Thr Phe His          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Leu Gly Leu Leu Lys Asp Gly Ile Leu Ala Gl - #y Ser Asp Trp Gly Phe          #               175                                                            - Ala Pro Ala Asp Lys Asp Ala Leu Ile Cys Gl - #n Phe Asn Arg Phe Val          #           190                                                                - Asn Glu Tyr Asn Thr Arg Leu Met Val Leu Ty - #r Ser Lys Glu Phe Gly          #       205                                                                    - Arg Leu Leu Ala Lys Asn Leu Asn Glu Ala Le - #u Asn Phe Arg Asn Met          #   220                                                                        - Cys Ser Leu Tyr Val Phe Pro Phe Ser Glu Al - #a Trp Ser Leu Leu Arg          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Tyr Glu Gly Thr Lys Leu Glu Asn Thr Leu Se - #r Leu Trp Asn Phe Val          #               255                                                            - Gly Glu Ser Ile Asn Asn Ile Ser Pro Asn As - #p Trp Lys Gly Ala Leu          #           270                                                                - Tyr Lys Leu Leu Met Gly Ala Pro Asn Gln Ar - #g Leu Asn Asn Val Lys          #       285                                                                    - Phe Asn Tyr Ser Tyr Phe Ser Asp Thr Gln Al - #a Thr Ile His Arg Glu          #   300                                                                        - Asn Ile His Gly Val Leu Pro Thr Tyr Asn Gl - #y Gly Pro Thr Ile Thr          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Gly Trp Ile Gly Asn Gly Arg Phe Ser Gly Le - #u Ser Phe Pro Cys Ser          #               335                                                            - Asn Glu Leu Glu Ile Thr Lys Ile Lys Gln Gl - #u Ile Thr Tyr Asn Asp          #           350                                                                - Lys Gly Gly Asn Phe Asn Ser Ile Val Pro Al - #a Ala Thr Arg Asn Glu          #       365                                                                    - Ile Leu Thr Ala Thr Val Pro Thr Ser Ala As - #p Pro Phe Phe Lys Thr          #   380                                                                        - Ala Asp Ile Asn Trp Lys Tyr Phe Ser Pro Gl - #y Leu Tyr Ser Gly Trp          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Asn Ile Lys Phe Asp Asp Thr Val Thr Leu Ly - #s Ser Arg Val Pro Ser          #               415                                                            - Ile Ile Pro Ser Asn Ile Leu Lys Tyr Asp As - #p Tyr Tyr Ile Arg Ala          #           430                                                                - Val Ser Ala Cys Pro Lys Gly Val Ser Leu Al - #a Tyr Asn His Asp Phe          #       445                                                                    - Leu Thr Leu Thr Tyr Asn Lys Leu Glu Tyr As - #p Ala Pro Thr Thr Gln          #   460                                                                        - Asn Ile Ile Val Gly Phe Ser Pro Asp Asn Th - #r Lys Ser Phe Tyr Arg          465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -        #80                                                                            - Ser Asn Ser His Tyr Leu Ser Thr Thr Asp As - #p Ala Tyr Val Ile Pro          #               495                                                            - Ala Leu Gln Phe Ser Thr Val Ser Asp Arg Se - #r Phe Leu Glu Asp Thr          #           510                                                                - Pro Asp Gln Ala Thr Asp Gly Ser Ile Lys Ph - #e Thr Asp Thr Val Leu          #       525                                                                    - Gly Asn Glu Ala Lys Tyr Ser Ile Arg Leu As - #n Thr Gly Phe Asn Thr          #   540                                                                        - Ala Thr Arg Tyr Arg Leu Ile Ile Arg Phe Ly - #s Ala Pro Ala Arg Leu          545                 5 - #50                 5 - #55                 5 -        #60                                                                            - Ala Ala Gly Ile Arg Val Arg Ser Gln Asn Se - #r Gly Asn Asn Lys Leu          #               575                                                            - Leu Gly Gly Ile Pro Val Glu Gly Asn Ser Gl - #y Trp Ile Asp Tyr Ile          #           590                                                                - Thr Asp Ser Phe Thr Phe Asp Asp Leu Gly Il - #e Thr Thr Ser Ser Thr          #       605                                                                    - Asn Ala Phe Phe Ser Ile Asp Ser Asp Gly Va - #l Asn Ala Ser Gln Gln          #   620                                                                        - Trp Tyr Leu Ser Lys Leu Ile Leu Val Lys Gl - #u Ser Ser Phe Thr Thr          625                 6 - #30                 6 - #35                 6 -        #40                                                                            - Gln Ile Pro Leu Lys Pro Tyr Val Ile Val Ar - #g Cys Pro Asp Thr Phe          #               655                                                            - Phe Val Ser Asn Asn Ser Ser Ser Thr Tyr Gl - #u Gln Gly Tyr Asn Asn          #           670                                                                - Asn Tyr Asn Gln Asn Ser Ser Ser Met Tyr As - #p Gln Gly Tyr Asn Asn          #       685                                                                    - Ser Tyr Asn Pro Asn Ser Gly Cys Thr Cys As - #n Gln Asp Tyr Asn Asn          #   700                                                                        - Ser Tyr Asn Gln Asn Ser Gly Cys Thr Cys As - #n Gln Gly Tyr Asn Asn          705                 7 - #10                 7 - #15                 7 -        #20                                                                            - Asn Tyr Pro Lys                                                              - <210> SEQ ID NO 5                                                            <211> LENGTH: 3675                                                             <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               - <400> SEQUENCE: 5                                                            - actgtttcca gtgaagtatt gtccccatcc taccttgcca aaatatctca ta - #cgtatcat          60                                                                           - acgttaatgg ttacccaaaa tatatacgca ttttatcccg tctgtttttt cg - #taaggaac         120                                                                           - actctcccct tacgaaaaag taacaaaaga ataaatccta tcaataacaa ta - #tgggaacc         180                                                                           - aatgtacatg tcggtctcaa aaccaatatc gataacaata tcagaactaa tg - #tgcatgtt         240                                                                           - ggtctcaaac ctaatatcga taacaatatc ggaactagca tgtatgacga tc - #ttaagacc         300                                                                           - aacattaaca acaatatcgg aacaagcatg catgatgaac ttaacaacga gt - #gttttttt         360                                                                           - cataggcctg ttgcatgtta ttgcatacca aaattacctt agactcagca tt - #ttgaccta         420                                                                           - agaaaatgat tttaattaaa tctgtttatg gtaacaactc ttcgtaaatg tg - #gtagactt         480                                                                           - agttatgatt tctttcgtaa acatgaactt caacattagg gttccagtag tt - #ttcattta         540                                                                           - cttagacatt atattagata ggtaggtctt aatgggagat gtccttatgg tg - #gattattg         600                                                                           - aataataagg gacttaaaac tcttgcatgt gcatatggtc gtcggtttgc tc - #gtccgcga         660                                                                           - aattttgcat attaattaga tatggatcat cgacataatt taggtcataa at - #cagattat         720                                                                           - cttataaaac ggagtaaggg ttcttgtcat aggcatttaa attatgacgg ta - #gacaacga         780                                                                           - actagaccac atagaagatt cttactagat agactctgac atcttttaac at - #ttcgtcct         840                                                                           - taatgtatcc gtagtagaca acatgaatct attactctca acgaggatat tt - #ttgagaat         900                                                                           - cataatagac cacttttagg atgttactat aaaacacatc atccacgtag ta - #taagatta         960                                                                           - aataatatac aattgcaatt ttttagtacc aatatacgtt cactatgcgg aa - #aacctgtc        1020                                                                           - cgactttgcc gtgcttatat tattagtagt atgaaattat ataaacttcc at - #attatgaa        1080                                                                           - ccatgagatg aaaaatttca ctgacatagt agtttaaatt ataaggtagg tc - #tcatttct        1140                                                                           - gggcctctct ttataaaggt caattatagt cgccaaaatt ttttacctag tc - #gactacaa        1200                                                                           - ccttgccatc gtcaatctta aagtaacgcg catcgtcgtc cttgataact ta - #actttaaa        1260                                                                           - gggggaaata gtaacattca ataaaggaca aaataaaaac attaaagatt aa - #gtaatgat        1320                                                                           - gttccttttg attcaggcga ctttgcgggt aagggatagg taggacatta ac - #aaccagga        1380                                                                           - ggtaatatac aaccgtcctg tggtacttac aaaagtgcta cataacagcg aa - #ctcatagt        1440                                                                           - ctttttattg atattaattt gaattgtaac aaattagaaa ctaatccacg ag - #ggtaattg        1500                                                                           - ttaaatattt cgcgtggaaa ggttagtaat cctctatata ataactatga aa - #gtgggtgt        1560                                                                           - tttaaggtat tactttcgca caaaagatta aaacaaggaa gtatggaatt at - #ttctggta        1620                                                                           - cgaagtcttt ttcctttctg tatatttgat gtgtataaag atttcaagtt cc - #gaagtaat        1680                                                                           - tctaaaaaac gattattggc aggtttaaga aaactcatgt tatggtagtc ag - #ctcataat        1740                                                                           - ataagtaact gtttagataa cttaaccgtt tattctcgca gaaatagacg tc - #ctcgttta        1800                                                                           - ggggttagcg aaggacgatt ttaaggtaga aaattatttg ggtttacttt ac - #atgtgtag        1860                                                                           - actcattttt cactttacct atgaggaagt ataggacgtt agagtttaac tc - #cgttagac        1920                                                                           - gaataattaa ccaatgaaca tagttttttt tcggataatc gacaaggtca ga - #gtttaaat        1980                                                                           - ctaactaatt gtattagtca tttttgaaat gagtgcagtt attaaggaaa ca - #taagtgga        2040                                                                           - agattttaga attgagacag tagaacatta gaaaccagat tttcacaaac at - #ggagttat        2100                                                                           - gcttggaata ggtatcatcg tccgcataat ggccccttat agagcctaaa at - #taaaacgt        2160                                                                           - ttgggaacaa aatgtcgggt aaatcgttct cgacaacgat ttataaatcg tt - #aacctcga        2220                                                                           - tgacgataat tacgacctcg atctcttcca agattagatg gtaatatgta tc - #cctttaat        2280                                                                           - tagtataata attaaagaca ccataatttc aacaataaaa cgtaaatttt gt - #acggggga        2340                                                                           - gaagaaattt gttaaatgat tatatttgct ttagaaaagt attaattgaa aa - #aacaaaag        2400                                                                           - gttatcatat ggataaaaat atgtcaatat taataagaac aaaatttcca tg - #tatataaa        2460                                                                           - tatttagtat cccacgtaaa ttaaaggtaa taagtcctaa gacctgactt ta - #tttttatc        2520                                                                           - cttaagtgta gattaattac cttgaaacac taaaagaaga ctgtacatta gt - #atactact        2580                                                                           - aagaccaacg tttatactaa agaaaagttt taatagtatt agtcataagt gc - #attattag        2640                                                                           - gagtgtagga aaagataaaa gtgaagataa agcagttagc aatcaaataa ag - #gacaaaaa        2700                                                                           - aattaaacaa tagaaaaacg tggtctttgt ttttttggac gtatacgccc ta - #aacatatg        2760                                                                           - tgaagtttca gtgtggacca gttaggaaaa aatgcgtctc ataatggttt cc - #caagacaa        2820                                                                           - cgtttcaaga aaagtcgacc aatgttaaat ctttttcgac actcctctta ac - #gtttaccc        2880                                                                           - tataaaattt ccttttgtta agttctttct ataataaaaa catcggcaac cg - #atgataac        2940                                                                           - agcaaaaaga aattcgatag cactacatag actttaagac tttcttgctc cg - #caaaggca        3000                                                                           - agtgggttgt tgttagtacg ctacccacgt acttataccg ttagactaga ta - #gtttagac        3060                                                                           - ctttttcttt ttgtgttgta gagttagcag taccgtaaat ctactttgca ta - #tagtttca        3120                                                                           - gtttccgctt accacgatag atatagcacg ataactatca ctacctgtat gc - #gaactaaa        3180                                                                           - agttgaagca gtttgtgcgc tagtagttcg gcgaatatac aaatactttg ct - #aatcactt        3240                                                                           - ttgaaaacct cttggtttcc aagaataatg tctattccga ggacgtgacg aa - #acacgcaa        3300                                                                           - attttttgat tttttcttgc cacacataca cgtatgtttt gtaacatgcc aa - #tttgtaga        3360                                                                           - attattggac taacttgttc tggtggctgt acattttgct gcaaaacggt tt - #agaagacc        3420                                                                           - taaggtttta taggcggtac gaagtgcatg gtattttccc taactttgct aa - #gtccggaa        3480                                                                           - tatatttgtc tctgcttcaa acttagtctg aggcagaaaa gacgcatgtt ac - #ttgacgtt        3540                                                                           - gttaatgatc gctgacgaat tgataaagag tagtaaaagg ttccgcaaat at - #gaaaaaag        3600                                                                           - tttgaaacgt tgtcttggag tacggaatat ataaaatgaa gtctttctaa tt - #ggcaatga        3660                                                                           #  3675                                                                        - <210> SEQ ID NO 6                                                            <211> LENGTH: 725                                                              <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. jegathesan                               - <400> SEQUENCE: 6                                                            - Met Met Gln Asn Asn Asn Phe Asn Thr Thr Gl - #u Ile Asn Asn Met Ile          #                 15                                                           - Asn Phe Pro Met Tyr Asn Gly Arg Leu Glu Pr - #o Ser Leu Ala Pro Ala          #             30                                                               - Leu Ile Ala Val Ala Pro Ile Ala Lys Tyr Le - #u Ala Thr Ala Leu Ala          #         45                                                                   - Lys Trp Ala Val Lys Gln Gly Phe Ala Lys Le - #u Lys Ser Glu Ile Phe          #     60                                                                       - Pro Gly Asn Thr Pro Ala Thr Met Asp Lys Va - #l Arg Ile Glu Val Gln          # 80                                                                           - Thr Leu Leu Asp Gln Arg Leu Gln Asp Asp Ar - #g Val Lys Ile Leu Glu          #                 95                                                           - Gly Glu Tyr Lys Gly Ile Ile Asp Val Ser Ly - #s Val Phe Thr Asp Tyr          #           110                                                                - Val Asn Gln Ser Lys Phe Glu Thr Gly Thr Al - #a Asn Arg Leu Phe Phe          #       125                                                                    - Asp Thr Ser Asn Gln Leu Ile Ser Arg Leu Pr - #o Gln Phe Glu Ile Ala          #   140                                                                        - Gly Tyr Glu Gly Val Ser Ile Ser Leu Phe Th - #r Gln Met Cys Thr Phe          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - His Leu Gly Leu Leu Lys Asp Gly Ile Leu Al - #a Gly Ser Asp Trp Gly          #               175                                                            - Phe Ala Pro Ala Asp Lys Asp Ala Leu Ile Cy - #s Gln Phe Asn Arg Phe          #           190                                                                - Val Asn Glu Tyr Asn Thr Arg Leu Met Val Le - #u Tyr Ser Lys Glu Phe          #       205                                                                    - Gly Arg Leu Leu Ala Lys Asn Leu Asn Glu Al - #a Leu Asn Phe Arg Asn          #   220                                                                        - Met Cys Ser Leu Tyr Val Phe Pro Phe Ser Gl - #u Ala Trp Ser Leu Leu          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Arg Tyr Glu Gly Thr Lys Leu Glu Asn Thr Le - #u Ser Leu Trp Asn Phe          #               255                                                            - Val Gly Glu Ser Ile Asn Asn Ile Ser Pro As - #n Asp Trp Lys Gly Ala          #           270                                                                - Leu Tyr Lys Leu Leu Met Gly Ala Pro Asn Gl - #n Arg Leu Asn Asn Val          #       285                                                                    - Lys Phe Asn Tyr Ser Tyr Phe Ser Asp Thr Gl - #n Ala Thr Ile His Arg          #   300                                                                        - Glu Asn Ile His Gly Val Leu Pro Thr Tyr As - #n Gly Gly Pro Thr Ile          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Thr Gly Trp Ile Gly Asn Gly Arg Phe Ser Gl - #y Leu Ser Phe Pro Cys          #               335                                                            - Ser Asn Glu Leu Glu Ile Thr Lys Ile Lys Gl - #n Glu Ile Thr Tyr Asn          #           350                                                                - Asp Lys Gly Gly Asn Phe Asn Ser Ile Val Pr - #o Ala Ala Thr Arg Asn          #       365                                                                    - Glu Ile Leu Thr Ala Thr Val Pro Thr Ser Al - #a Asp Pro Phe Phe Lys          #   380                                                                        - Thr Ala Asp Ile Asn Trp Lys Tyr Phe Ser Pr - #o Gly Leu Tyr Ser Gly          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Trp Asn Ile Lys Phe Asp Asp Thr Val Thr Le - #u Lys Ser Arg Val Pro          #               415                                                            - Ser Ile Ile Pro Ser Asn Ile Leu Lys Tyr As - #p Asp Tyr Tyr Ile Arg          #           430                                                                - Ala Val Ser Ala Cys Pro Lys Gly Val Ser Le - #u Ala Tyr Asn His Asp          #       445                                                                    - Phe Leu Thr Leu Thr Tyr Asn Lys Leu Glu Ty - #r Asp Ala Pro Thr Thr          #   460                                                                        - Gln Asn Ile Ile Val Gly Phe Ser Pro Asp As - #n Thr Lys Ser Phe Tyr          465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -        #80                                                                            - Arg Ser Asn Ser His Tyr Leu Ser Thr Thr As - #p Asp Ala Tyr Val Ile          #               495                                                            - Pro Ala Leu Gln Phe Ser Thr Val Ser Asp Ar - #g Ser Phe Leu Glu Asp          #           510                                                                - Thr Pro Asp Gln Ala Thr Asp Gly Ser Ile Ly - #s Phe Thr Asp Thr Val          #       525                                                                    - Leu Gly Asn Glu Ala Lys Tyr Ser Ile Arg Le - #u Asn Thr Gly Phe Asn          #   540                                                                        - Thr Ala Thr Arg Tyr Arg Leu Ile Ile Arg Ph - #e Lys Ala Pro Ala Arg          545                 5 - #50                 5 - #55                 5 -        #60                                                                            - Leu Ala Ala Gly Ile Arg Val Arg Ser Gln As - #n Ser Gly Asn Asn Lys          #               575                                                            - Leu Leu Gly Gly Ile Pro Val Glu Gly Asn Se - #r Gly Trp Ile Asp Tyr          #           590                                                                - Ile Thr Asp Ser Phe Thr Phe Asp Asp Leu Gl - #y Ile Thr Thr Ser Ser          #       605                                                                    - Thr Asn Ala Phe Phe Ser Ile Asp Ser Asp Gl - #y Val Asn Ala Ser Gln          #   620                                                                        - Gln Trp Tyr Leu Ser Lys Leu Ile Leu Val Ly - #s Glu Ser Ser Phe Thr          625                 6 - #30                 6 - #35                 6 -        #40                                                                            - Thr Gln Ile Pro Leu Lys Pro Tyr Val Ile Va - #l Arg Cys Pro Asp Thr          #               655                                                            - Phe Phe Val Ser Asn Asn Ser Ser Ser Thr Ty - #r Glu Gln Gly Tyr Asn          #           670                                                                - Asn Asn Tyr Asn Gln Asn Ser Ser Ser Met Ty - #r Asp Gln Gly Tyr Asn          #       685                                                                    - Asn Ser Tyr Asn Pro Asn Ser Gly Cys Thr Cy - #s Asn Gln Asp Tyr Asn          #   700                                                                        - Asn Ser Tyr Asn Gln Asn Ser Gly Cys Thr Cy - #s Asn Gln Gly Tyr Asn          705                 7 - #10                 7 - #15                 7 -        #20                                                                            - Asn Asn Tyr Pro Lys                                                                          725                                                            - <210> SEQ ID NO 7                                                            <211> LENGTH: 644                                                              <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: B. thuringiensis ser. israelensis                              - <400> SEQUENCE: 7                                                            - Met Met Glu Asp Ser Ser Leu Asp Thr Leu Se - #r Ile Val Asn Glu Thr          #                 15                                                           - Asp Phe Pro Leu Tyr Asn Asn Tyr Thr Glu Pr - #o Thr Ile Ala Pro Ala          #             30                                                               - Leu Ile Ala Val Ala Pro Ile Ala Gln Tyr Le - #u Ala Thr Ala Ile Gly          #         45                                                                   - Lys Trp Ala Ala Lys Ala Ala Phe Ser Lys Va - #l Leu Ser Leu Ile Phe          #     60                                                                       - Pro Gly Ser Gln Pro Ala Thr Met Glu Lys Va - #l Arg Thr Glu Val Glu          # 80                                                                           - Thr Leu Ile Asn Gln Lys Leu Ser Gln Asp Ar - #g Val Asn Ile Leu Asn          #                 95                                                           - Ala Glu Tyr Arg Gly Ile Ile Glu Val Ser As - #p Val Phe Asp Ala Tyr          #           110                                                                - Ile Lys Gln Pro Gly Phe Thr Pro Ala Thr Al - #a Lys Gly Tyr Phe Leu          #       125                                                                    - Asn Leu Ser Gly Ala Ile Ile Gln Arg Leu Pr - #o Gln Phe Glu Val Gln          #   140                                                                        - Thr Tyr Glu Gly Val Ser Ile Ala Leu Phe Th - #r Gln Met Cys Thr Leu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - His Leu Thr Leu Leu Lys Asp Gly Ile Leu Al - #a Gly Ser Ala Trp Gly          #               175                                                            - Phe Thr Gln Ala Asp Val Asp Ser Phe Ile Ly - #s Leu Phe Asn Gln Lys          #           190                                                                - Val Leu Asp Tyr Arg Thr Arg Leu Met Arg Me - #t Tyr Thr Glu Glu Phe          #       205                                                                    - Gly Arg Leu Cys Lys Val Ser Leu Lys Asp Gl - #y Leu Thr Phe Arg Asn          #   220                                                                        - Met Cys Asn Leu Tyr Val Phe Pro Phe Ala Gl - #u Ala Trp Ser Leu Met          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Arg Tyr Glu Gly Leu Lys Leu Gln Ser Ser Le - #u Ser Leu Trp Asp Tyr          #               255                                                            - Val Gly Val Ser Ile Pro Val Asn Tyr Asn Gl - #u Trp Gly Gly Leu Val          #           270                                                                - Tyr Lys Leu Leu Met Gly Glu Val Asn Gln Ar - #g Leu Thr Thr Val Lys          #       285                                                                    - Phe Asn Tyr Ser Phe Thr Asn Glu Pro Ala As - #p Ile Pro Ala Arg Glu          #   300                                                                        - Asn Ile Arg Gly Val His Pro Ile Tyr Asp Pr - #o Ser Ser Gly Leu Thr          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Gly Trp Ile Gly Asn Gly Arg Thr Asn Asn Ph - #e Asn Phe Ala Asp Asn          #               335                                                            - Asn Gly Asn Glu Ile Met Glu Val Arg Thr Gl - #n Thr Phe Tyr Gln Asn          #           350                                                                - Pro Asn Asn Glu Pro Ile Ala Pro Arg Asp Il - #e Ile Asn Gln Ile Leu          #       365                                                                    - Thr Ala Pro Ala Pro Ala Asp Leu Phe Phe Ly - #s Asn Ala Asp Ile Asn          #   380                                                                        - Val Lys Phe Thr Gln Trp Phe Gln Ser Thr Le - #u Tyr Gly Trp Asn Ile          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Lys Leu Gly Thr Gln Thr Val Leu Ser Ser Ar - #g Thr Gly Thr Ile Pro          #               415                                                            - Pro Asn Tyr Leu Ala Tyr Asp Gly Tyr Tyr Il - #e Arg Ala Ile Ser Ala          #           430                                                                - Cys Pro Arg Gly Val Ser Leu Ala Tyr Asn Hi - #s Asp Leu Thr Thr Leu          #       445                                                                    - Thr Tyr Asn Arg Ile Glu Tyr Asp Ser Pro Th - #r Thr Glu Asn Ile Ile          #   460                                                                        - Val Gly Phe Ala Pro Asp Asn Thr Lys Asp Ph - #e Tyr Ser Lys Lys Ser          465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -        #80                                                                            - His Tyr Leu Ser Glu Thr Asn Asp Ser Tyr Va - #l Ile Pro Ala Leu Gln          #               495                                                            - Phe Ala Glu Val Ser Asp Arg Ser Phe Leu Gl - #u Asp Thr Pro Asp Gln          #           510                                                                - Ala Thr Asp Gly Ser Ile Lys Phe Ala Arg Th - #r Phe Ile Ser Asn Glu          #       525                                                                    - Ala Lys Tyr Ser Ile Arg Leu Asn Thr Gly Ph - #e Asn Thr Ala Thr Arg          #   540                                                                        - Tyr Lys Leu Ile Ile Arg Val Arg Val Pro Ty - #r Arg Leu Pro Ala Gly          545                 5 - #50                 5 - #55                 5 -        #60                                                                            - Ile Arg Val Gln Ser Gln Asn Ser Gly Asn As - #n Arg Met Leu Gly Ser          #               575                                                            - Phe Thr Ala Asn Ala Asn Pro Glu Trp Val As - #p Phe Val Thr Asp Ala          #           590                                                                - Phe Thr Phe Asn Asp Leu Gly Ile Thr Thr Se - #r Ser Thr Asn Ala Leu          #       605                                                                    - Phe Ser Ile Ser Ser Asp Ser Leu Asn Ser Gl - #y Glu Glu Trp Tyr Leu          #   620                                                                        - Ser Gln Leu Phe Leu Val Lys Glu Ser Ala Ph - #e Thr Thr Gln Ile Asn          625                 6 - #30                 6 - #35                 6 -        #40                                                                            - Pro Leu Leu Lys                                                              - <210> SEQ ID NO 8                                                            <211> LENGTH: 26                                                               <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:j80NFORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 8                                                            #              26  ttcc natgta                                                 - <210> SEQ ID NO 9                                                            <211> LENGTH: 26                                                               <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:j66NFORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 9                                                            #              26  atng naatga                                                 - <210> SEQ ID NO 10                                                           <211> LENGTH: 26                                                               <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:j37NFORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 10                                                           #              26  caag agatta                                                 - <210> SEQ ID NO 11                                                           <211> LENGTH: 20                                                               <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:JEG80ORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 11                                                           - Met Gln Asn Asn Asn Phe Asn Thr Thr Glu Il - #e Asn Asn Met Ile Asn          #                15                                                            - Phe Pro Met Tyr                                                                           20                                                                - <210> SEQ ID NO 12                                                           <211> LENGTH: 14                                                               <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:JEG70ORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 12                                                           - Met Xaa Phe Ala Ser Tyr Gly Xaa Arg Asp As - #n Glu Tyr Leu                  #                 10                                                           - <210> SEQ ID NO 13                                                           <211> LENGTH: 15                                                               <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:JEG66ORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 13                                                           - Met His Tyr Tyr Gly Asn Arg Asn Glu Tyr As - #p Ile Leu Asn Ala              #                 15                                                           - <210> SEQ ID NO 14                                                           <211> LENGTH: 20                                                               <212> TYPE: PRT                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:JEG37ORMATION: Description of Artificial                             - <400> SEQUENCE: 14                                                           - Thr Ile Thr Asn Ile Glu Ile Ala Thr Arg As - #p Tyr Thr Asn Xaa Asp          #                 15                                                           - Xaa Thr Gly Glu                                                                           20                                                                - <210> SEQ ID NO 15                                                           <211> LENGTH: 11                                                               <212> TYPE: DNA                                                                <213> ORGANISM: Artificial Sequence                                            <220> FEATURE:                                                                 #Sequence:RIBOSOMEATION: Description of Artificial                                   BINDING SITE (FIGURE 5)                                                  - <400> SEQUENCE: 15                                                           #       11                                                                     __________________________________________________________________________ 

We claim:
 1. A purified polynucleotide comprising SEQ ID NO:5.
 2. A cloning or expression vector, comprising the nucleotide sequence of claim
 1. 3. The vector of claim 2, which is the plasmid pJEG 80.1.
 4. A prokaryotic or eukaryotic recombinant cell, comprising the cloning or expression vector of claim
 2. 5. The polynucleotide of claim 1 comprising nucleotides 325-1260.
 6. The polynucleotide of claim 1 comprising nucleotides 1-124.
 7. The polynucleotide of claim 1 comprising nucleotides 64-2238.
 8. The polynucleotide of claim 1 which encodes a polypeptide having a toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family.
 9. The polynucleotide of claim 1 which encodes a polypeptide having a molecular weight of 80 kDa as determined by SDS polyacrlymide gel electrophoresis.
 10. A polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence of claim
 1. 11. A polypeptide of claim 10, which is encoded by SEQ ID NO:3.
 12. (Amended) The polypeptide of claim 11, comprising SEQ ID NO:4 which has a molecular weight of approximately 80 KDa as determined by SDS polyacrlymide gel electrophoresis and has a toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family.
 13. A polypeptide having a toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family which reacts with antibodies against the polypeptide of claim
 10. 14. A composition having toxic activity against insects of the Diptera family comprising: an effective amount of at least one polypeptide of claim
 10. 15. A purified polnucleotide which encodes a first polypeptide which when combined with a second polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence of claim 1 enhances the toxic activity of the second polypeptide against insects of the Diptera family.
 16. The polynucleotide of claim 7, which encodes for a polypeptide having a molecular weight of approximately 70 kDa as determined by SDS polyacrlymide gel electrophoresis.
 17. A purified polynucleotide which comprises to SEQ ID NO:9 and encodes a first polypeptide, which when combined with a second polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence of claim 1, enhances the toxic activity of the second polypeptide against insects of the Diptera family.
 18. The polnucleotide of claim 17, which encodes a polypeptide of about 66 kDa as determined by SDS polyacrlymide gel electrophoresis.
 19. A purified polynucleotide which comprises to SEQ ID NO:10 and encodes a first polypeptide, which when, combined with a second polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence of claim 1, enhances the toxic activity of the second polypeptide against insects of the Diptera family.
 20. The polynucleotide of claim 19, which encodes for a polypeptide of about 37 kDa as determined by SDS polyacrlymide gel electrophoresis.
 21. A purified 4.3 kb Hind III DNA fragment obtained from the plasmid pJEG 80.1. 